Appalachian Trail Cookies

This recipe was written in the December 2008 Bicycling magazine, under the title "Super Foods Served Here". Good job marketing or editing or whoever makes up titles to articles. The words 'super' and 'food' together are being used (or overused?) like wildfire these days. But it works. That title would get my attention every time.

The article goes on to discuss a triathlete who's also a chef creating wonderful healthy foods for sports minded folks. It goes on and on, and at the end, they gave a recipe... for cookies! Um, now I'm really hooked on this article. I'm thinking 'healthy cookie'. Yes! Thank YOU mr. triathlete turned chef turned article writer.

And here we have them...

A healthy cookie. Mostly. A cookie is a cookie after all! But as cookies go, these are not only healthy, but super, super delicious.

They are a bit crumbly, but that may be because I cook the heck out of cookies, wanting them to be crunchy. And I'm willing to deal with the crumbly-ness, since it doesn't affect their tasty-ness.

For a take along snack on hikes, bike rides and car trips, these get two thumbs up from me!

* If feeding these to kids, beware: as you can see below, they do involve peanuts. But you can omit those and they would still be delicious.

Appalachian Trail Cookies
from Michael Pfab in Bicycling Magazine

1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup shredded coconut (I love this!)
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon pastry flour (I used all purpose flour)
pinch salt
pinch baking soda
pinch ground cinnamon
2 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup raisins (optional - I didn't use them)
1/3 cup roasted unsalted peanuts
1/3 cup M&M candies (plain)

Blend shortening, butter, brown sugar and sugar. Add egg and mix well.

Add coconut, flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon. Mix only until blended.

Fold in oats by hand, then mix in raisins, peanuts and M&Ms.

Spoon out in equal portions on parchment-lined baking pan. Bake at 360 degrees for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown. Makes two dozen.

Interested in the 'healthy' content of the cookies? 157 calories per serving, 7 grams of fat, 21 grams of carbs and 3 grams of protein. Sorry, they neglect to tell you how many cookies equals a serving.

Guten appetit!